Councillor Pat O'Brien
Councillor Pat O'Brien
Lord Provost
East Lothian Council
HADDINGTON
East Lothian
Scotland EH41 3HA
October 14th 2000
It was a great pleasure to meet you at last and to hear your 'overall
vision' for Prestongrange Heritage Museum. When it can be accomplished
it will bring great benefit both to the community itself but also
to the local economy. We are very happy at the Baron Courts to
play our part in helping the overall vision to advance.
As I outlined, the way in which we know are able to help is by
directly taking action within the overall vision on a number of
projects that have already emerged and for the sake of clarity
I thought it might help if I set them down in the Annex attached
here.
Mrs Jane Bonnar and her colleagues are working part time with
the Baron Courts to advance most of them, and it was she working
with Ms Annette MacTavish of your own Council who steered the
Prestoungrange PROJECT 2000 forward these past 12 months. The
booklets I left with you are the initial tangible outcomes, and
very good they are. As you will see from the Annex, more are in
preparation.
I look forward to meeting with you again either in December when
I am back from Asia or perhaps in the New Year.
Yours sincerely
Dr Gordon Prestoungrange
Baron of Prestoungrange
ANNEX
Progress Report:
BARON COURTS' PROJECTS AT 14TH OCTOBER 2000
1. PRESTOUNGRANGE PROJECT 2000
This involves the creation of up to 20 Schools' Resources fort
Field Visits to the Museum. The first 9 are now completed and
a School Visits Program is in progress to June 2001. The Courts'
WebSite contains the full materials and a Feedback Forum structure.
Each booklet is also published as hardback to seek to recoup some
of the Project investment and WebSite expenses. When completed
the Booklets will appear as a bound volume for libraries with
Forum Feedback summaries and Field Visit Guides.
Success means ….. 30 + Field Visits with Recorded Feedback
take place.
2. PRESTOUNGRANGE POTTERY PROJECT 2001
This builds from Booklet No 9;
2.1 to capture a Virtual Pottery Exhibition on line
at the Courts' WebSite by December 2000
2.2 to create selected Prestoungrange Pottery Reproductions for
sale
2.3 to run a Competition amongst Local Potters to create a New
Millennium Prestoungrange Pottery Selection for sale
3. RECONSTRUCTION OF BEEHIVE KILN
Plans are currently being prepared and costings for rebuilding
a Beehive Kiln on the existing foundations at the Heritage Museum.
The plans will soon be submitted for Building Regulations/ Planning
Consents as may be required.
NB. The Kiln will not be a traditionally fired/ functioning kiln.
That will perhaps be a separate project addressed by the Council.
The proposal here is for a kiln that is half Exhibition on Pottery
and half a Workshop for potters. It will proceed as a partnership
with a team of local potters.
The Courts will be happy to fund a visit to France to the locally
twinned town there to see how their International Pottery and Ceramics
Exhibitions can also come to Prestongrange Heritage Museum.
4. PRESTONGRANGE MURALS 2001
The Courts have already funded the visit of Karl Schutz from Chemainus,
Canada, to present the strategies of Arts Tourism at the RMGC in
September; and they will continue to fund his consultancy services
on the optimum management of Next Steps as we proceed.
A minimum of five Murals are planned to be commissioned with the
artists funded by the Baron Courts. The four faces of the Bath House
and the concrete walling are immediate canvases together with the
Barony's sea wall on the foreshore between Redburn Road and Cuthill
Rocks. ( To ensure better access, the Courts have arranged for the
restoration of the steps at the bottom of Redburn Road to the foreshore
and for railings on the road level platform there. )
5. FIRING ONE BRICKWORKS CHAMBER IN 2001
It is planned to fire a single brickworks chamber in 2001 in order
to produce a 'Commemorative Batch' of bricks. This can coincide
with a Major launch initiative for the Heritage-Museum-at-Large.
6. MICROBREWERY TO RECREATE FOWLERS ALES
The new technologies of micro-breweries makes it possible to 'recreate'
a Heritage Beer as brewed by Fowlers. Research is in process on
the costings of such an initiative and for the original Fowlers
brew specification details and the brand's ownership today.
7. SCOTTISH TARTANS SOCIETY
The Courts are in discussion with the STS with a view to opening
their Centre at the Heritage Museum, with all its potential to attract
visitors.
8. STEAM SOCIETY AT THE HERITAGE MUSEUM
The Steam Engines are one of the most 'attractive' aspects of the
Heritage Museum. The Courts have proposed that they sponsor one
of the engines, and the matter is under discussion.
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